Having realised the truth behind the October Manifesto, the Bolsheviks campaigned even harder for a Soviet Government, gaining the support of discontented citizens, whom also understood the underlying flaws in the Duma and new laws. Nicholas II was either ignorant or unworried of the situation, taking no measures to prevent a large scale uprising – as his control had diminished over his own people, this was most likely impossible anyway. The Dumas administered by Witte and Stolypin saw new economic policies emerge, which were of overall a benefit to the nation of Russia. The Tsarist government’s attitude, despite the Dumas willingness for reform, rejected any form of change to the system; and refused to establish a democratic state, keeping with the autocratic system. The Bolsheviks saw, and it can be agreed on that, while standing his ground on his autocratic rule; the Tsar Nicholas II created the very catalyst which would lead to his family’s demise.
In one of Rodzyanko’s warnings to the Tsar, he stated that “very serious outbreaks of unrest” were, in fact, imminent. This preluded the inevitable Revolution of February, 1917. From the 18th of February to the 4th of March, a full-scale strike was initiated by the employees of the Putilov steelworks (in fact one of the most politically active factories in Petrograd). These workers were joined days later by numerous amounts of citizens concerned about rumours of a lack of food and basic supplies; these rumours were later speculated to have been as powerful as fact, inciting the strongest of responses. Bolshevik supporters joined the protest, and soon an extensive range of revolutionaries were in numbers within the city.
The Bolshevik plans were unfolding as their ideals would have predicted – the working class was becoming even more agitated, putting into a motion a movement which would eventually overthrow the Tsar. With these growing protests mounting into a spiral in which strong support surmounted each previous day, the movements then continued throughout the days following February 18. By coincidence, further support to the revolution came in a just fashion; the 23rd of February was International Women’s Day, adding thousands of women to the protest movement. By the 25th of February, Petrograd was completely crippled by what was a normal strike, developed to a now insurmountable movement of proportions beyond control. Despite the fact that revolutions before had been planned – the February revolution HAD NOT been planned. It was a total spontaneous manifestation of the people’s irritation and an accumulation of social and political unrest, attributed to the Bolshevik party and their insistent manipulation of the flaws and wrongs of the government.
This revolution had reached its peak, and from over 400 miles away, in a military base in Mogilev, Nicholas II listened to reports of his city in chaos. He ordered for his military commanders – mainly General Khabalov; to restore order to the city. The time for such an action was long past, with any efforts to enforce martial law impossible, as not only had the amount of protestors increased far above any controllable levels. Bolshevik tactics had led to some 150,000 garrison troops had deserted or mutinied by the 26th of February. This left a mere few thousand loyal troops left and even a detachment of a battalion of General Ivanov’s troops had deserted long before it reached Petrograd. Through the destabilizing of the army by means of scrutinizing the Tsarist cause, and creating revolutionary thoughts among the masses, the revolution, although not planned, had become an organized success in the end. These promises of much greater freedoms and conditions under a socialist state had showed, and reinforced that the Bolsheviks carried such a great influence over the people that they succeeded in completely crippling Nicholas II’s control over his city, and people.
Due to the overwhelming scale of the February revolution, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate and Russia finally became a republic under control of the provisional liberal government. The Mensheviks believed the revolution to have gone far enough, and the achievement was great enough to crush all further thoughts of revolution and to build on the new parliament. The Bolsheviks, however, greatly differed and the results of February-March only marked only a partial victory, for a party whom would never be satisfied until a completely Socialist Democratic state had been created for Russia. The October Revolution of 1917 would soon become a reality and a complete Soviet Democratic state would emerge amid the bloodshed of a further revolution.
In early May, June and July, Lenin had returned to Russian after being in exile, bringing with him his renewed thoughts of seizing power for the Bolsheviks – and them alone. A large series of riots upon his return showed the Bolshevik’s continued efforts being reflected as Soldiers protested about the unpopular “prosecution of the war” by the provisional government. These riots continued, and more riots were seen in June, and July – which saw the worst of all of the protest actions so far. Armed mobsters (soldiers of the garrison) led marches through the capital, with much devastation being laid upon infrastructure and government buildings. These actions were seen as being the Bolshevik’s actions, but as Lenin wasn’t even in the capital when they began, he seemingly couldn’t have orchestrated such an event. These events all played to Lenin’s ultimate goal, showing him to take advantage of it as he reviewed his party’s plans. There were minor setbacks as the provisional government suspected Lenin to be a German spy soon after the riots, with many leading Bolsheviks being arrested and their paper, the “Pravda” being shut-down for a short while. These problems showed no issue to Lenin, as the Bolsheviks doubled their efforts, taking advantage of further instability and faith in the provisional government.
Being appointed Commander-in-Chief by Kerensky, General Lavr Kornilov soon had within his power the ability to cause great problems for the provisional government. Just before a conference to be held in Moscow between 12-15 August, General Kornilov ordered his troops to be within 200 miles of Petrograd, to the south. This would have been seen as without purpose, but it allowed Kornilov to march against Petrograd or Moscow. Kerensky and Kornilov discussed the problems – where Kornilov said he wanted all of the Soviet revolutionaries killed and power for himself – however, acting “in the good of Russia”. Kerensky wanted Kornilov to resign, but on the 27th of August, after being asked to resign by Kerensky, Kornilov ordered his troops to advance and seize the capital.
The Bolsheviks were at great threat of being attacked by Kornilov’s men, and began merging with the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries to recruit a worker’s militia – soon to be known as the Red Guard. Within a single day, over 25,000 workers – all armed – signed up to help in the fight. Kornilov was easily dispatched by the superior organization of the Bolsheviks and the revolutionaries. There was, however, no bloodshed, and due to the deep social and political manipulation of the Bolsheviks, Kornilov’s troops were unable to even make it to the capital as railway men refused to move the troops, and telegraphists would not pass on Kornilov’s messages.
After many years and tiresome efforts by the Bolsheviks, and many revolutionary forces, In October 1917, the final revolution that would signal a beginning to the Bolshevik Socialist State had begun. The Red Guard, an essential aspect of Bolshevik’s plan, were trained and highly utilized by the Bolsheviks to assert their now powerful state. Finally, the Bolsheviks were gaining the much-needed majorities in provinces and the cities, allowing them to step closer to complete control. Lenin and his party would have been viewed as quite capable of now seizing the government with literally no resistance and without bloodshed. This, however, was not Lenin’s wish. Unlike the majority of Lenin’s party members, he preferred revolutionary action by armed force and crush all opposition so he could remain in power.
On the 10th of October, 1917, being “spurred on” by their leader’s insistence of a “bloody revolution”, the Central Committee agreed to seize power by force. Trotsky was now in Petrograd, preparing the Bolshevik’s revolution, with Trotsky capturing key military facilities and taking command of more troops to assist in their cause. As like in February, troop morale was incredibly low – much due to the Bolshevik’s own work at instilling these feelings of hopelessness with the provisional government. The establishment of a Military Revolutionary Committee had later assisted Trotsky in gaining the support of the Garrison in Petrograd, further fueling their armaments. By the time Kerensky had made the decision to crush all Bolshevik troops by force, there were nearly no loyal soldiers left for him to command. The Bolsheviks had succeeded in using their manipulation of social unrest to remove Kerensky’s means of restoring order.
Following the night of the 23rd of October, Kerensky moved to shut down all Bolshevik media; closing down two newspapers and calling in troops from out of Petrograd to come to the city and arrest members of the Bolsheviks. Loyal men to the provisional government were sent to raise drawbridges and prevent the working class Bolshevik supporters over the river Neva from reaching the capital’s inner areas. The cruiser, Aurora was left in close proximity to the city, with a ship-load of sailors who would most likely mutiny and join the Bolsheviks – unknown to Kerensky though. Absolutely none of these preventative actions succeeded, as Bolshevik superiority in both practical capacity and intelligence level anticipated and actually prevented the measures from working – as supporters stopped the raising of drawbridges and the entering of external troops into the city.
On the 24th-25th of October, the Bolshevik’s plans were falling into place. Supporters had won over the sailors on the Aurora, seizing control of the ship, and further moving throughout the capital. Bolshevik forces seized major infrastructure – railway stations, telephone exchanges, post offices and many of the areas designated by Kerensky to be protected, were seized. Kerensky’s very own preventative methods became his own undoing, as superior Bolshevik planning had demonstrated their ability to manipulate the actions of others.
Lenin, not wanting to wait any longer, returned to Petrograd to oversee the final elements of the Bolshevik plan. There, on the 25th of October, the “Day of the Bolsevik” became a reality. Kerensky’s supporters and he being isolated in the Winter Palace, there was little resistance to be had to the final acts of the revolution. Kerensky did escape, however, and left the city, heading for the front hoping to gain support. Nothing discouraged the Bolsheviks, and the storming of the Winter Palace began at around 7pm, with the Aurora aiming her guns at the Palace. An Ultimatum was issued by the Bolsheviks, ordering for the provisional government to surrender completely – the obvious power behind their ultimatum was obvious, but not entirely effective. The provisional government, typically, ignored them, resulting in a breaching of the Palace and a slow clearing of the guards and ministers inside. The Aurora opened up her guns, firing blanks at the Winter Palace as the night continued, but minimal violence actually occurred within the Palace. The Bolsheviks has once again exercised their extreme power and ability to manipulate the city – and finally engage the provisional government to bring about their own ascension.
A meeting of the Second All-Russian Congress had occurred, and the Bolsheviks stood forward, with support of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. Lenin issued a proclamation for complete seizure of power for his party, proposing the ruling of the Bolseviks over Russia. Later, around the 26th-27th of October, it was finally the end of the Bolsevik’s revolution, with the result being that of Lenin dominating the assembly of the Congress of Soviets. Lenin issued two decrees; that of a treaty of peace with Germany and Austria, and the seizure of private ownership of land and the distribution of that land to the peasants whom wishes to use it to cultivate. This final measure had resulted in Lenin taking complete control, and the first Soviet Government had now been formed.
It can be seen, that through the Bolshevik’s own careful establishment of an intelligentsia-based party, and the control maintained on their actions, they essentially sought to manipulate the country to their own means, and thus throw the Tsar regime out, and the provisional government to seize power for themselves. From the 1905 revolution, to the February revolution, the Bolsheviks demonstrated that their absolute resolve to manipulate the social unrest of the citizens to turn them against their government never ceased in its potency. The Kornilov revolt ended in complete success for the Bolsheviks as their careful planning and extreme influence – only achieved through turning those oppressed to their side – and as such, they became a force to be reckoned with. The Bolsheviks can then be concluded to have gained power by an accumulation of their manipulative tactics, and their actions within revolutions leading up to the October Revolution. The final forced-seizure of the capital, due to their immense supporters within the Russian nation, was only a mere exercise of the Bolshevik’s unwavering ability to transmute the very fabric of Russian society to overturn their own leaders. It can then be said that the Bolsheviks had indeed demonstrated that their ideals and plans had overturned that of all others in the end. Due to their intelligentsia party, manipulation of the population, and their ability to take advantage of political and social unrest of the nation of Russia, the Bolsheviks were able to gain power in the Revolution of October, 1917.
